Characters / Back to the Future: Brown Family

For the rest of the Back to the Future cast, see here.

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Doc Brown

Dr. Emmett Lathrop "Doc" Brown

"GREAT SCOTT!"

Played by: Christopher Lloyd, Roger Bart (original, London and Broadway musicals), Cory English (new casting, London musical)
Dubbed in French by: Pierre Hatet
Dubbed in Japanese by: Takeshi Aono (home video dub), Takanobu Hozumi (TV Asahi dub), Miyake Yuji (Fuji TV dub)
Voiced in the animated series by: Dan Castellaneta
Younger Version Voiced in the Telltale Games series by: James Arnold Taylor

Hill Valley's eccentric scientist, inventor of the DeLorean time machine and Marty's best friend. He goes along with Marty in all of their adventures through time, fixing any changes to the timeline caused by time travel.

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• Absent-Minded Professor: He forgets to shut off the machines in his lab, resulting in a coffee maker with no carafe that squirts water onto an empty hot plate, a toaster that burns the bread to charcoal, and a can opener that dumps can after can of dog food into Einstein's overflowing dish. When the Libyans show up, he discovers too late that he has forgotten to load the revolver he brought for self-defense. He also forgot to keep a backup stash of plutonium in the DeLorean, which keeps Marty stranded in the past until the storm of '55 takes place.
• Adaptational Badass: In the film, he typically got out of tricky situations through his wits and not physical force. The video game, however, has him punch out Beauregard Tannen in a One-Hit KO.
• Ambiguously Christian: One of the days he sets an example of a historic day to visit is the birth of Christ,^note Though no one really knows the date and based on how shepherds were in the field was more likely in spring than winter, though whether he sees it as much as a historian or believer is unknown.
• Animal Lover: In both 1955 and 1985 he has pet Dogs — Copernicus and Einstein, respectively — that seem to be as fond of him as he is of them. It says something, after all, that he tests a Time Machine (that he knows will work) on Einstein, leaves him safe in a kennel in Part II, and returns from 1885 to retrieve Einstein once Time Travel becomes possible again. Copernicus, in 1955, sees his master's name on the grave and sits there whining sadly.
• Animal Motifs: Dogs. Doc has an Uncatty Resemblance to his dogs Einstein and Copernicus, is friendly and excitable and Clara remarks that he has Puppy-Dog Eyes.
• Anti-Hero: Doc is a force for good throughout the trilogy: he created the DeLorean time machine for altruistic reasons, and is very committed to protecting the safety and sanctity of the natural timeline. With that much having been said, Doc makes several decisions to achieve his goals that are very ethically questionable.
  • In the first film, Doc gets the plutonium he requires for his time machine by double-crossing terrorists and puts Marty's life in danger, both intentionally (by making him stand in front of a speeding car to get a good shot of the DeLorean) and unintentionally (when the Libyans come after him for revenge).
  • In the second film, when Doc decides that perhaps bringing Jennifer to the future wasn't a good idea after all, he has very little problem with knocking out a teenage girl and leaving her unconscious body hidden in an alleyway for quite some time.
  • In the third film, when Marty and Doc run out of other feasible ideas they can think of to get home, they eventually decide to steal themselves a whole locomotive so they can get back to the 1980s.
• Badass Longcoat: He wears a long coat in Part III and also does some rather impressive things.
• Becoming the Mask: Doc tells Marty in his letter that he'd set himself up as a blacksmith as a cover while attempting to fix the DeLorean. But when he realized the damage was beyond the capacity of 1885 technology, he buried the time machine so that Marty could fix it with the help of his 1955 counterpart and go back to 1985 himself, and accepted his place as a blacksmith, perfectly content to stay in 1885 because he always wanted to live in the Old West.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Doc Brown is an intelligent, altruistic scientist who spends the entire series trying to do what's right, help his friends better their lives, and who wouldn't hurt a fly. However, the moment he sees Mad Dog and his friends trying to lynch Marty, he promptly shoots the rope and then takes aim right at Tannen's head. He's fully prepared to drop the hammer on him if that's what it takes to save Marty, and Tannen doesn't try to push it. Also a definite case of Let's Get Dangerous!. According to Doc himself, the Libyans hired him to build a bomb, implying he is, in fact, capable of it. Be glad he just went into Time Travel and not world domination...
• Big Good: He has only good intentions with time-traveling, wants to set the timeline right so no one suffers, and is genuinely helpful to Marty in all three movies and sees him as a close friend. Marty must seek out Doc several times throughout the series in order to assist him in traveling throughout time, and comes to the rescue of Marty whenever all hope is lost.
• The Blacksmith: Doc sets himself up as one when trying to repair the DeLorean until giving up and hiding it in the Delgado Mine. By the time Marty comes to 1885 to rescue Doc, he's still operating as a blacksmith.
• Body Motifs: Doc's eyes are considered his most distinct feature. Biff refers to him as a wild-eyed scientist and Clara remarks that he has puppy-dog eyes.
• Born in the Wrong Century: Doc wishes he lived in the Wild West. Although when that wish comes true, he still wishes the Wild West had Tylenol.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Marty and Doc briefly trade catchphrases after Doc points out the possibility that the tombstone might be for Marty now.
  Marty: Great Scott!
  Doc: I know, this is heavy!
• Bungling Inventor: Strictly speaking, the time machines are the only inventions of his that work^note  That we see, that is. The time machine is his only invention seen in 1985, and he seems to be a lot more bungling in 1955, but in that 30-year time period, it's possible he was a lot more accomplished. He is apparently a gifted scientist otherwise, enough that he works as a freelance science troubleshooter.
  • Given that some of Doc's future knowledge eventually made its way to his 1955 self, there may have been a ripple effect that caused his present self to become more skilled with every alteration to his history. In the first movie 55-Doc was presented with the precise method for time travel and in the third movie 85-Doc made sure to give his younger self schematics to replace the Delorean's fried circuits.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He may be eccentric, to put it lightly, but he's also on par with his scientific heroes in terms of intelligence and creativity, having created a fully functional time machine. By the end of the trilogy he may have gone even further, given he'd figured out how to use steam energy to travel through time.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: All it takes is a single shot of whiskey, and he's out like a light. Being depressed and sleep deprived couldn't have helped.
• Cattle Punk: Doc builds a refrigerator, a sniper rifle, and chemicals capable of pushing a steam locomotive over 88 MPH with materials available in 1885 Hill Valley. He can't repair the Delorean, though he manages to turn another locomotive into a Steampunk time machine years later.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Great SCOTT!!" Similar to "This is heavy!" from Marty, it's a sign that things have gone pear-shaped.
  • "If My Calculations Are Correct..." Too bad for Doc that they usually aren't.
• Celibate Eccentric Genius: He finds the idea of Love at First Sight ridiculous... until he meets Clara in the third film.
• Character Development: Goes from believing at the start of the trilogy that "no man should know too much about his destiny" to saying that "the future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. Your future is whatever you make it!" at the end.
• Character Tics: He often makes grandiose hand gestures while talking. Christopher Lloyd said he based his portrayal of Doc, in part, on conductor Leopold Stokowski, i.e. Doc is conducting the world.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He is famous for his quirky and eccentric personality.
• Cool Old Guy: The guy's built a Time Machine out of a rather poor car, for starters.
• Cool Shades: Doc's steel glasses at the end of Part I, used in Part II when he flies the DeLorean.
• Could Say It, But...: Doc's very cagey with regard to Marty's future. When he lets slip that Marty has an accident at some point, Marty begins to piece together that his future won't be so bright.
• Crazy-Prepared: He travels with a briefcase full of money from different time periods, just in case. "Have to be prepared for all monetary possibilities."
• Deadpan Snarker: It's rare, but he has his moments.
  [Marty points out his father, who has a "kick me" sign on his back]
  Doc: Maybe you were adopted?
• Deuteragonist: For the entire series, Doc is the second-most important character. However, he gets far more focus in Part III, to the point that he's the main character of the third movie.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the original trilogy, Doc is shot by the terrorists he conned to get plutonium to power the time machine. Likely because of stage limitations, they're absent in the musical and the risk to Doc that accidentally sends Marty back in time is radiation poisoning.
• Dies Wide Open: Subverted towards the end of Part I. His eyes are wide open but it turns out to be a Disney Death.
• Dirty Old Man: In a Deleted Scene, it's shown that he had a Playboy magazine in his luggage, which 1955 Doc is very interested in. Also, in the second movie while he scans Marty Jr from a distance he gets briefly distracted by an attractive young woman.
• Disney Death: Doc in the revised timeline, thanks to a warning from Marty, manages to avoid getting shot to death by wearing a bullet-proof vest.
• Einstein Hair: How did he get his hair to stick out like that? The game expands on this. During the 1931 Hill Valley Science Expo. Young Emmett is driving his flying rocket-powered car, which explodes violently. When Emmett exits the expo, his hair became like his movie counterpart, as a result of the explosion (which he didn't have before). He comments that after that incident, he got banned from the expo for at least 50 years.
  • Lampshaded during Doc's cameo in the queue for The Simpsons Ride; Krusty has bought the Institute of Future Technology (after Professor Frink accidentally ran over the investor who would've kept the IFT running), and tells Doc he can tear tickets if he gets a haircut. "Fine by me! It takes me three hours every morning just to get it like this!"
• Elemental Motifs: Electricity. He's got Einstein Hair, a high-energy personality, gets struck by lightning twice and is a whiz with technology.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Doc does this a few times. When he sees his older self wearing a radiation suit on video, he assumes that it's because of the effects of future atomic wars. Later, when Marty tells him all they need is "a little plutonium" to make the time machine work, he thinks this means plutonium is an easily accessible resource in 1985.
• Eskimos Aren't Real: Doc doesn't initially believe that an actor like Ronald Reagan could become president, though he comes around to it when he sees Marty's "portable television studio" (really a video camera) and realizes the president has to look good on film.
• "Eureka!" Moment: On November 5th, 1955, Doc was hanging a clock in his toilet when he slipped and fell and banged his head on the sink.

  Doc: And when I came to, I had a revelation. A vision! A picture in my head. A picture of this! This is what makes time travel possible: the Flux Capacitor!

• Even Nerds Have Standards: Doc is himself an eccentric and something of a social outcast in town, but even he is appalled at just how pathetically socially inept George McFly is.
• Fan of the Past: Doc is a fan of the Old West, and gets to live in it by the time Part III rolls around.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Inverted with Doc, he seems to fit in better in 1885 and was a respected member of the community, as opposed to the crazed crackpot reputation he had in 1985.
• Fool for Love: He's instantly smitten with Clara, and being around her turns him into a hopeless romantic who gives her the googly eyes and promise to give her anything he can.
• For Science!: His interest in time travel is completely selfless: he speaks in the first movie of its use for historians and scientists. However, he soon recognizes the problems time travel will cause in unscrupulous hands, and has no problem ordering Marty to destroy the time machine.
• Friendless Background:
  • At the time of the films, he has only Marty and his pet dogs, because no one in Hill Valley wants to come near "crazy old man Brown."
  • Subverted in 1885, where as the town blacksmith he's well-liked by the town he's on a first-name basis with the saloonkeeper and the mayor.
• Friendly Sniper: In the third film, he constructed a sniper rifle while in 1885 which he uses to shoot a rope hanging Marty.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He's quite adept at adapting technology to the limitations of the time period he's in.
• Gasp!: Doc tends to do this during shocking moments. Doubles as an Actor Allusion for Christopher Lloyd who has done it in several other movies.
• Gentleman Adventurer: Has shades of this. (Though he had the foresight to try not to alter historical events.)
• Going Native: Doc has adjusted to life in 1885 very well. Although, he did say that the Old West was his favorite time period.
• Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Played with. Doc is rarely seen without a tacky luau shirt, and he is a tourist. Makes sense since he's allergic to synthetic fabrics and real Hawaiian shirts are made out of cotton.
• Heroes Love Dogs: He has dogs named after famous scientists, Einstein in 1985 and Copernicus in 1955.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Doc draws the Libyans' attention to give Marty time to run, and gets shot for it.
• Hero of Another Story: He leaves to discover the future at the end of the first film, and after he was accidentally sent back to 1885 at the end of the second movie, he's been living as Hill Valley's local blacksmith for almost 9 months.
• Herr Doktor: Played with. Doc has no Germanic accent or notable behaviors, but he mentions that his parents were the 'von Brauns' until WWI.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Marty. In the first film, Doc sacrifices himself to save Marty from the Libyans, and Marty returns the favor by ensuring that he gets the news of his impending death. Throughout the entire trilogy, they're by each others' sides, protecting each other and providing the fandom with many crowning moments of heartwarming.
• Hidden Depths: The eccentric Doc Brown is quite charming when around his love interest, and is a pretty good dancer to boot. Lampshaded by Marty:
  Marty: The Doc can dance??
• Homemade Inventions: Doc has a passion for making these. The time machine being the prime example, more minor examples including a robotic dog-feeder, humongous amp, a mind-reading machine which doesn't work, and a steampunk ice-maker.
• Hot-Blooded: Even more so when he's 17. The present Doc admits that he's nowhere near the bravery his past self was.
• I Choose to Stay: Zig-Zagged by Doc, who upon being thrust into 1885 is perfectly fine with settling down to live the rest of his days as a blacksmith, and gives Marty instructions to recover the Delorean and go back to 1985 without him. However, this changes when they learn that Doc will be killed within the same year. Marty travels to save Doc in 1885, and they prepare to get back to 1985 until Doc sacrifices himself to save Clara, leaving him stuck for good in 1885. Then they build a steam powered, time-traveling train for their own use sometime in the 1890s.
• Iconic Attribute Adoption Moment: In the Alternate Continuity videogame Back to the Future: The Game, his younger self has an experiment explode and it transforms his hair into the Eisteinian wig that we all know and love. This also marks the point that he fully dedicates his life to science instead of the life of law that his father wants for him.
• If My Calculations Are Correct: When Doc's baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit.
• Indy Ploy: More subtly than Marty, but Doc can be surprisingly pragmatic when he needs to be.
• Intergenerational Friendship: It's a credit to the actors that we, as viewers, don't question why a skater punk and some old guy would hang out together. But just in case you insist in explanations:
  • The original script had a line by Marty explaining that Doc hired him to clean his garage. Marty, being a music aficionado, was impressed with Doc's vintage record collection. The rest is history.
  • The screenwriter decided it wasn't necessary to explain how they first met. Doc is a local pariah and a weirdo, and Marty is clearly a rebel. It's inevitable that Marty would snoop around Doc's garage at some point.
  • Bob Gale himself finally gave a rather heartwarming explanation over on Mental Floss. invoked
    • The IDW comic book expanded on this in the first issue, showing that in 1982, Needles bullied Marty into trying to steal from Doc's lab. Marty was able to get inside using his wits rather than brute force, which impressed Doc enough to offer him a part-time job as his assistant. He didn't actually need help, but Marty's enthusiasm convinced him to hire the young man on the spot.
  • Another explanation could be drawn from the movie — that their friendship is a Stable Time Loop. Marty and Doc are friends because Marty helped him in the fifties (and in the game, saved him in the thirties), so Doc knew who he was in the eighties and became friends with him, thus leading to him once again doing all of those things.
  • The two friends over at Blank Check subscribe to the theory that Marty felt the absence of a male role model and proper father figure growing up, and naturally gravitated to Doc, who is in many ways the opposite of George McFly.
• Key Under the Doormat: Doc is not particularly security conscious.
• Large Ham: What would you expect from Christopher Lloyd?
• Literal-Minded: This comes up a couple of times in the first movie, where he takes Marty's use of slang^note "This is heavy!" at face value in 1955. (In context, this takes place in an era when nuclear war between superpowers was starting to look more likely. It's not as much of a stretch than it would be now to have worried that we'd be slingin' around bombs to the point of affecting Earth's gravity.)
• Love at First Sight: Though skeptical of it, it comes true when he meets Clara, which is reciprocated. Becomes a bit of a problem when he and Marty need to get back to the future.
• Mad Scientist: He is a bit eccentric and goofy, but Doc has kindly intentions.
• May–December Romance: Played with. Historically speaking, Clara was around 60 years older than him, but biologically speaking, Doc was about 30-40 years older than her when they first meet.
• Meaningful Name: His first name is "Time", pronounced backwards. His ambition is to travel in time.
• The Mentor: To Marty, especially in Part III, when he helps him learn that there's no point in losing his temper whenever somebody calls him "chicken" (or "yellow" in 1885).
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: He has the rumors of being a "crazy old man", and Marty was even warned not to go near him, but did so anyway and befriended him, according to Word of God. His main purpose with time-traveling is to help mankind with their problems; he refuses to alter it for personal gain, which he calls out on Marty for trying to do in the sequel.
• Model Planning: A Running Gag. Doc Brown builds elaborate models of city blocks or canyons to demonstrate his plans to Marty, then apologizes for "the crudity of the model". It also catches on fire, repeatedly.
  Marty: You're really instilling me with a lot of confidence, Doc.
• Mysterious Middle Initial: What exactly the L stands for isn't stated until the animated series, when an Evil Former Friend of his refers to him as "Emmett Lathrop Brown."
• Nice Guy: Doc is an eccentric, mad scientist who was willing to steal plutonium from terrorists to fuel his time traveling car. However, he genuinely cares about Marty and is a relatively decent guy in general.
• No Man Should Have This Power: Doc Brown repeatedly promises to himself to destroy his own time-traveling technology, which finally happens at the end of Part III. (And then it almost immediately turns out that he had built a new one.)
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Doc's second time machine was built in the Old West and runs on steam, which is a massive upgrade from relying on plutonium, lightning, and futuristic technology to power the original time machine.
• Older Than They Look: He's nearly one hundred years old in the game, yet still looks like a man in his sixties. Justified by the fact that he took advantage of future medicine to rejuvenate himself and increase his lifespan. They also replaced his spleen and colon.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Aside from inventing a time machine with an onboard nuclear reactor, he's also managed to build a working refrigerator (well, it can produce ice, anyway) using 1885 components^note working refrigeration units actually existed at the time - the truly impressive thing here is that he did it with parts you could find in a podunk hamlet like Hill Valley, and a second time machine that runs solely on steam power (again, using components available around 1885). Also, when he meets Clara and lets slip that he's a scientist, he mentions that he's a student of all sciences.
• Only Friend: Marty is all Doc has except for his dogs. Doc is a decent and loyal man who happens to have the reputation of being a Mad Scientist. Marty feels out of place himself but nonetheless knows enough about making friends to have the fellow members of his garage band.
• Papa Wolf: To Marty, he draws away the Libyan terrorists' gunfire to him so Marty can get away in Part I and in Part III, he saves Marty from being hanged and threatens to shoot Mad Dog Tannen in retaliation. To Jules and Verne, Doc goes through a variety of feats in Back To The Future: The Animated Series to protect them such as saving Verne from falling to his death from the top of Independence Hall in the episode "Go Fly a Kite" and rescuing both boys from a gang in the episode "Dickens of a Christmas."
• Pet's Homage Name: Doc's dogs. His 1985 dog is named Einstein, his 1955 dog is Copernicus.
• Phrase Catcher: "You're the doc, Doc."
• Pimped-Out Car: Doc made a time machine out of a car, and later a train, not to mention the flying abilities.
• The Professor: In the original draft, he'd been called "Professor Brown" before it was recommended that he'd be called "Dr. Brown" or "Doc". This new nickname became so iconic that during the filming of The Frighteners years after BTTF, Michael J. Fox kept calling the Judge character "Doc".
• Properly Paranoid: Doc's warnings to Marty that his heroic actions might throw the space-time continuum out of whack if he's not careful. While Marty never causes some great temporal implosion like Doc infers, there are plenty of changes that Marty didn't expect would happen. These can range from the good (his mediocre family suddenly becoming happy and fulfilled) to not so good (tarnishing his own future by getting into a drag race and watching his kids ruin their own lives) to outright awful (allowing Biff to rewrite history for his own gain and turning Hill Vally into a dystopia).
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Marty's red. Doc is usually the one to come up with the plans and tries to keep Marty out of trouble if it means affecting the timeline in unforeseen ways.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Marty believes Doc to be dead after the terrorists riddled him with bullets. While he is mourning, Doc comes back to life behind him. Marty slowly turns his head in disbelief but is overjoyed when he realizes what's going on.
• Rescue Romance: Doc and Clara first meet and fall in love after he rescues her from falling into a ravine.
• Riches to Rags: As Marty finds out when he's in the 1950s, Doc used to be loaded, but he spent it all on his time travel experiment, reducing him to work as a repairman. Doc, however, doesn't mind as the money isn't something he cares about.
• Rule of Cool: Doc made his time machine out of a DeLorean out of style. He does begin to mention that there was a reason based on the car's stainless steel construction, but is cut off before he can fully explain it.
• Science Hero: One of the rare cinematic heroes who is known for his intellect and courage, but not for being a man of action. That said, he will not hesitate to put his body on the line to protect his friends, and he gradually develops into quite a badass gunslinger in the old west.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: He often screams in a really comically high pitched tone of voice.
• Sdrawkcab Name: His first two names. His first name Emmett is "time" pronounced backwards, and his middle name Lathrop is "porhtal", as in "time portal".
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Especially in the animated series. In the DVD commentary, it's lampshaded that Doc will use a bigger word when he could easily use a smaller word, such as calling a dance "A rhythmic ceremonial ritual" even though the word "dance" was clearly written.
• The Slow Path:
  • Doc regrets having to wait 30 years to talk to Marty about their adventures.
  • Regarding Marty's attempts to warn him of his impending death, Doc insists that he'll find out through the ordinary progression of events.
• Sophisticated as Hell: "If My Calculations Are Correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit."
• Symbol Motif Clothing: He's wearing a shirt decorated with locomotive trains in Part II. The same shirt becomes his bandanna in Part III.
• Supporting Protagonist: In Part I. He serves as Marty's best friend but is merely a scientist who in the past will help him get back to the future at the end. The movie is really about Marty fixing his teenage parents' relationship.
• Techno Babble: He tends to speak like this. Lampshaded by Marty repeatedly.
  Marty: English, Doc!
• Time-Travel Romance: Doc falls in love with a schoolteacher from the Old West.
• Theme Naming: Doc's dogs are named after famous scientists.
• Took a Level in Badass: His first appearance in Part III involves him rescuing Marty from being hanged by shooting the rope holding him up, then proceeds to get Buford and his goons to run off. He also figures out how to build a new time machine from scratch while living in the Old West.
• Trapped in the Past: Doc, after realizing he's stuck in 1885. All he has to do is leave a letter with Western Union.
• True Companions: Marty and Doc have a very strange but very strong bond. They are separated by interests and age, but they would sacrifice themselves for each other without a second thought. That's during the films. It gets more flagrant after the video game.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Doc and his dogs all have Einstein Hair.
• Vague Age: Doc's age in 1955 and 1985 is never mentioned in the films. The fact that Christopher Lloyd looks exactly the same in both time frames doesn't help. He must be in his 80s in 1985. Fairly hilarious in that his age is referenced in Part II (with his "old" mask removal and his comments about having work done), so he didn't have to wear makeup. Yes, he really was given an age-up for the original 1985. Lloyd just has that old puppy dog face no matter what his age, apparently.
  • The Telltale game establishes that Doc was 17 in 1931, making him 41 in 1955 and 71 in 1985.
• The Von Trope Family: In Part III Doc explains that his family used to be the "Von Brauns". He goes on to explain his father changed it to Brown because of World War I.
• Word of Dante:invoked Bob Gale guesses that Doc was involved with the Manhattan Project, but became an outcast and spent the remainder of his life trying to invent something beneficial for humanity. Hence the portable nuclear reactor which he sank his entire fortune into. This would also explain his cynical predictions for the future in 1955 ("Of course! Because of all the fallout from the atomic wars!") Became (semi-) canon on the IDW Publishing BTTF comics (written by Gale).
• You Keep Using That Word: At least from Doc's point of view in 1955, as he thinks that Marty's use of the word "heavy" still applies to weight and measurements — when, from Marty's point of view, he's just using the slang term for something that has a deep, powerful impact, whether philosophical, intellectual, or emotional.
• Zeerust: Happens both in- and out-of-universe:
  • In-universe, 1950s-Doc makes a series of hilariously bad predictions about the future.
  Doc: "What on Earth is that thing I'm wearing?" (referring to the radiation suit he was wearing in the 1980s film to protect him from the Flux Capacitor.)
  Marty: "A radiation suit"
  Doc: "Of course! Because of all the fallout from the atomic wars!"
  Doc: "I'm sure that in 1985, plutonium is available in every corner drugstore, but in 1955, it's a little hard to come by."

Emmett Lathrop "First Citizen" Brown

An alternate Emmett Brown created by Marty's errors in the game. As different from the original Doc as you can get. Considering who First Citizen Brown is, he embodies similar tropes, but to avoid redundancy, the following are either exclusive to First Citizen Brown or ones significantly changed from Doc.

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• Absent-Minded Professor: Less than the original Doc Brown. Thanks to or because of Edna's influence on him.
• Adaptational Heroism: He is much more sympathetic in the comic book adaption of the game.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Asks Marty for forgiveness before fading away from existence.
• Anti-Villain: He actually has no idea that he's evil.
• Big Brother Is Watching: In Episode 3, "Big Brother" is Citizen Brown. Though it's really Citizen Edna who pulls the strings.
• Decoy Leader: He thinks that he's in charge, but Edna's The Woman Behind the Man.
• Face–Heel Turn: See What the Hell, Hero? below.
• Heroic BSoD: See his My God, What Have I Done? entry below.
• Ink-Suit Actor: The hairstyle design changes reflect Christopher Lloyd's real-life baldness.
• Make Wrong What Once Went Right: But from his own perspective, it's the opposite. After he learns that Edna is miserable in the normal timeline, and thanks to his remaining love for her, he sabotages Marty's work convincing his past self to enter the science expo to ensure that he will be together with Edna in the future.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Once he realized his wife Edna used him and his science to try to turn Hill Valley citizens into mindless robots.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Unlike Edna, he hears out Marty's case before branding him as a troublemaker for Citizen Plus.
• Redemption Equals Death: Dies saving Marty from Edna's car assault.
• Refusal of the Call: Never became the scientist Doc Brown became, instead ruling Hill Valley with an iron fist. But it's Citizen Edna who pulls the strings.
• Science Is Bad: He blames his science for turning Edna so corrupt in the future. He's wrong, of course, but he's unlikely to listen to reason...
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wanted to change the world, but he went at it in the wrong way.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out Marty on this, because Marty fixing the timeline equals him and his life being erased from existence. He takes a third option.

Clara Clayton

Clara Clayton

Played by: Mary Steenburgen
Dubbed in French by: Frederique Tirmont

A schoolteacher who originally perished in 1885 in a ravine. Doc Brown rescues her during his time in 1885 and remains with her to start a family in that time.

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• Adapted Out: She doesn't appear in the musical, which ends the story after the first movie.
• Alliterative Name: CLAra CLAyton.
• Berserk Button: She had a deep respect for science, and gives Doc a vicious slap when she thinks he's making a mockery of science with his, in her mind, made up time travel story.
• Born in the Wrong Century: In the "Clara's Story" section of the comic book, Clara muses about how she and Emmett are like this, with Emmett fitting in better in the past, and her own desire to leave the past and visit (or live in) the future.
• Catchphrase Insult: In the animated series, her preferred word for someone she dislikes is "buzzard".
• Conveniently an Orphan: The fact that her parents are dead and she's seemingly alone in the world frees her up to leave her era and traverse the timeline with Doc.
• Damsel in Distress: Doc saves her from falling in the ravine and later from falling off the train.
• Driven to Suicide: Word of God suggests she might have deliberately jumped into the ravine after Doc was shot by Mad Dog Tannen.
• Geeky Turn-On: "You've read Jules Verne?", "I adore Jules Verne!" Doc's science background also intrigued her.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Clara wears a fine purple dress when she reconnects with Doc.
• In Spite of a Nail: She died falling into a ravine in the original timeline but Doc saved her in the second. Word of God says she might have jumped in on purpose after Doc died.
• Love at First Sight: Becomes rather flustered when she first lays eyes on Doc after he saves her life.
• Love Interest: She becomes Doc Brown's love interest after they fall in love at first sight.
• May–December Romance: Clara's in her thirties while Doc is in his sixties. Played with considering she was born nearly a century before he was.
• Nice Girl: Aside from her getting angry at Doc for making up (what sounded like) a tall tale, she's a kind and friendly woman.
• Plucky Girl: She's crazily determined enough to climb all the way to the train's engine room, despite all the explosions.
• Rescue Romance: Doc and Clara first meet and fall in love after he rescues her from falling into a ravine.
• Schoolmarm: She is Hill Valley's new schoolteacher in 1885. She still dresses like this even in the present.
• Science Hero: A lover of science and a major character.
• Skeptic No Longer: Predictably, she did not buy Doc's initial claim that he was from the future and assumed his love for her was all a lie, until she overhears how truly devastated he was to have lost her heart. She ditches the train and rushes all the way back to his shop to make things right, only to find Doc's time machine model sitting on the railroad set. Realizing the truth, she makes a mad dash to catch him aboard the train.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the animated series, she joins Doc on his adventures and engages in more action.
• Uncertain Doom: Word of God suggested she might have killed herself in the timeline where Doc was shot but says he'd leave it up to the viewers to decide if that was true
• Woman Scorned: When she believes Doc is toying with her, she calls him out, slaps him, and slams the door in his face.
• Wrench Wench: At the end of one comics story, Clara is seen adjusting the armature of the Jules Verne train with a wrench, and other stories imply that she had some hand in assisting Doc with the train's construction.

Jules Brown

Jules Eratosthenes Brown

Played by: Todd Cameron Brown
Voiced in the animated series by: Josh Keaton

The elder son of Doc Brown and Clara Clayton. A major character in the animated series, he takes after his father by using big words and having high intellect for a child.

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• Adapted Out: Doc never meets Clara in the musical, so he and his brother don't exist there.
• Ascended Extra: His only appearance in the original films is a brief, non-speaking appearance at the end of the third film. However, he becomes a main character in the animated series.
• Big Brother Bully: His relationship with Verne is fraught with fights, some of them caused by Jules being an Insufferable Genius. "Go Fly a Kite" saw him tell his brother that his non-geeky personality proves he's not a Brown.
• Free-Range Children: He (and his brother) frequently take the DeLorean and gallivant around the time stream. Sometimes it's zigzagged when Marty is along on a particular adventure.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: "The Money Tree" has Jules growing tired of being an outcast due to his high IQ and inventing the tree of the title to get attention.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jules' personality in the animated series. His sibling rivalry with Verne sometimes goes to cruel lengths, but he honestly does care about his little brother and is a decent person in general.
• Kid from the Future: He and Verne meet past versions of their parents in multiple episodes.
• Nerdy Bully: In the cartoon, he often picks on Verne, while also showcasing his superior intelligence.
• Named After Someone Famous: His first name is, of course, a reference to Jules Verne.
• Not So Above It All: Jules may be a Child Prodigy and act rather grown-up, he still has a number of more youthful (and goofy) qualities. In "Roman Holiday" and "Retired", he demonstrates a love of pranks that matches his brother's, and in "St. Louis Blues", he shows that he's fond of roller coasters (even if that's sometimes crossed over with a desire to do science on them).
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: In one episode, he creates a machine that prints newspapers from the future. In another episode, he creates a money tree.
• Prefers Proper Names: Jules always calls Marty "Martin", notably being the only person to do so, as his parents and younger brother all use the nickname. This fits with Jules' tendency towards Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness.
• Running Gag: Shared with his brother, a conversational gag that originated in the cartoon and carried over into the IDW comics:
  Jules: <says something in an overly complex or erudite way, for example: "I am formulating a brilliant concept!">
  Verne: <says the exact same thing, but simpler, having failed to understand, for example: "Who cares, what we need is a good idea!">
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: In the animated series, he's even more prone to using long words than his father.
• Sibling Rivalry: His and Verne's fights kick off a lot of the episodes.
• Skeptic No Longer: In the comics, when he first sees his father disappear in a time machine. He took it for granted that Doc had been making the whole thing up.

Verne Brown

Verne Newton Brown

Played by: Dannel Evans
Voiced in the animated series by: Troy Davidson

The youngest son of Doc Brown and Clara Clayton, a major character in the animated series. He's much more of a troublemaker than his brother, and acts his own age.

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• Adapted Out: Doc never meets Clara in the musical, so he and his brother are non-existent.
• Ascended Extra: His only appearance in the original films is a brief, non-speaking appearance at the end of the third film. However, he becomes a main character in the animated series.
• Black Sheep: Verne does not have the same scientific interests or intelligence as his father, though he does have the blond hair Doc had as a younger man (and a bit more common sense). His brother Jules likes to tell him he was adopted. However, it's mostly Verne that feels this way (encouraged by his brother); Doc and Clara love him every bit as much as Jules.
• Catchphrase Insult: The cartoon version likes insulting people (especially Jules) with "skunkhead."
• Cute, but Cacophonic: In the cartoon. He's a cute little tyke, but he doesn't have an indoor voice.
• Embarrassing First Name: In "A Verne By Any Other Name", after being bullied about his name, Verne went back in time to convince the real Jules Verne to change his name; failing at that, he travelled back to his own birth to convince his parents to name him something else.
• Expy: He wears a coonskin cap like Lorraine's younger brother Milton from the first movie.
• Free-Range Children: He (and his brother) frequently take the DeLorean and gallivant around the time stream. Sometimes it's zigzagged when Marty is along on a particular adventure.
• Funny Background Event: Infamously in III, when the actor playing him had to go to the bathroom, and pointed at his crotch to indicate so — not realizing the camera was rolling.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Despite the decade or so gap between their ages, Verne gets along quite well with Marty, possibly due to being the odd people out amongst the Browns, most of whom are science nerds.
• Kid from the Future: He and Jules meet past versions of their parents in multiple episodes.
• Little Stowaway: His first experience with time-travel in Issue 18 of the IDW comic.
• Named After Someone Famous: His first name is, of course, a reference to Jules Verne. It becomes a plot point in one episode, in which teasing makes him perceive it as an Embarrassing First Name.
• Running Gag: Shared with his brother, a conversational gag that originated in the cartoon and carried over into the IDW comics:
  Jules: <says something in an overly complex or erudite way, for example: "Just catenate expeditiously!">
  Verne: <says the exact same thing, but simpler, having failed to understand, for example: "How about I follow you, instead?">
• Sibling Rivalry: His and Jules's fights kick off a lot of the episodes.

Judge Erhardt Brown

Judge Erhardt Brown

Voiced in the Telltale Games series by: Roger L. Jackson

The father of Emmett Brown and grandfather of Jules and Verne. He immigrated from Germany to America sometime before WWI possessing just two dollars. Since then, he increased his wealth and became a judge for the Hill Valley Court House.

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• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: He wanted Emmett to go into law and forbade him from inventing. He nearly shut down Emmett's demonstration at the Hill Valley Science Expo until Marty convinced him not to. Since then, he has become much more supportive of Emmett's dreams.
• Generation Xerox: When Marty is trying to convince him to patch things up with Emmett, he reveals that he himself had a similarly strained relationship with his own father, who disapproved of him coming to America.
• Rags to Riches: He came to America before WWI with only two dollars to his name, and by the 1930s, he is wealthy and living in a mansion.
• The Von Trope Family: His original surname was 'Von Braun' but changed it to 'Brown' because of World War I.

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